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 TOULOUSE ENGELHARDT |
 CHRIS MAHONEY |
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BEN VAUGHN Designs In Music (Soundstage 15)
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COSTE
APETREA
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TOULOUSE
ENGELHARDT
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CHRIS MAHONEY PROJECT
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JIMMY
MAC
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CHRIS
MCGRAW
Attention Artists and Record Companies: Have your CD reviewed
in mwe3.com and 20th Century Guitar. Send to P.O. Box 630249, Little
Neck, N.Y. 11363-0249
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It’s
hard to believe it’s been almost ten years since the last U.S.
release from the multitalented Ben Vaughn. Following his 1997
album, Rambler 65 Vaughn traveled west and earned a reputation
as a well respected television music composer. Although he’s worked
as a producer for American music icons like Arthur Alexander and rockers
Ween, Vaughn’s head and heart have always been into classic ‘50s
/ ‘60s composers like Henry Mancini, Hank Marvin, Paul Mauriat
and the 101 Strings. With the release of his 2006 CD, Designs
In Music Vaughn more than lives up to his reputation as one
of the most eclectic and adventurous guitarist / composers in American
today. Turn off the lights and put this CD on—the music
is so retro cool, you won’t know what decade it is! Commenting
on the album, Vaughn adds, “It feels like a contemporary record
to me. It’s obviously a tribute to various styles but it’s
not a precious pristine recreation of something from 1962.” Vaughn
will amaze his followers and turn heads around with an album he describes
as “an instrumental record that brought together everything I learned
from scoring films and TV.” 
Based
in Sweden, guitar icon Coste Apetrea is one of the finest guitarists
in the world. The founding guitarist in the early ‘70s Swedish
art-rock group Samla Mammas Manna, Coste has done all sorts of guitar
based rock over the years—from mind boggling fusion to acoustic
new age and rock. Some may say his zenith was recording with Samla in
the mid ‘70s and his early ‘80s work with Jukka Tolonen, yet
on his 2006 CD for the Finland-based Lion label, Coste still proves
he’s got lots of fire in those fingertips. From electrifying jazz
to bizarre off the wall instrumental sounds, Samla style, Coste’s
latest will blow you away. 
Although
he was born in Wisconsin, guitar legend Toulouse Engelhardt grew up
in Southern California and was greatly influenced by both the So-Cal
surf sound of Dick Dale and the Northern California acoustic guitar
sound of John Fahey and Leo Kottke. In fact, back in the mid to late
‘60s, Toulouse was a member of the ‘Takoma Seven’, recording
fingerstyle guitar alongside those legends on the Takoma label. Interestingly
his 2005 14 track CD on Lost Grove Arts features a range of minimalist
/ surf-rock sounds performed on electric guitar. An eclectic collection
of restrained surf inspired instrumentals, Martian Lust—subtitled
The Toulouse Engelhardt “Mosrite Guitar” Compilation (1976-2003)—features
Toulouse in splendid form, weaving a bizarre mix of Americana on his
shimmering electric Mosrite guitar. The sound of acoustic blues and
ragtime are woven into his strange and beautiful surf-rock sound. Imagine
Leo Kottke jamming with The Ventures and you come close to the unique
guitar atmospheres in play on Martian Lust. 
An
up and coming guitarist who’s really doing something new with the
instrumental electric guitar sound, Chris Mahoney released his Rebirth
album in 2006. According to the guitarist, ‘this is the record
I’ve been wanting to make for a long time.’ Mahoney has opened
shows for artists as diverse as Al DiMeola and Blue Oyster Cult. Combining
rock, techno and industrial strength fusion, Mahoney is breaking down
walls for the guitar. Assisted by Chris Cubeta (drums / bass)
and Jerry Tereilliger (drums), Mahoney's hard rockin’ sound
will blow your roof off. 
Fans
of ‘70s funk fusion, sit up and take notice of guitarist Jimmy
Mac. Backed up by a range of skillful players, Mac sounds inspired by
a number guitar and musical greats like Jimi Hendrix, Andy Summers of
The Police, Southern rockers Lynyrd Skynyrd, jazz horn icon Charlie
Parker and Jeff Beck, especially Beck’s groundbreaking guitar work
with The Yardbirds. Mac also cites the big beat of Prince and Sly Stone
as main influences while also playing off modern genres like British
bass / drum grooves. Just A Kid Havin’ Fun is a classic
CD of modern funk jazz and fusion guitar sounds. 
One
guitar shredder who’s making some inroads with a novel do it your
self-style intensity is Alaska-based Chris McGraw. Very much influenced
by players like Satriani, there’s a also a Fripp based meditative
quality about McGraw’s guitar playing. A young player born in ’82,
McGraw demonstrates an amazing grasp on an enormous legacy of instrumental
guitar playing. There’s a touch of Euro style minimalism that’s
more instrumental alt-rock than surf or jazz bent and overall there’s
some promising ground being broken here. Excellent cover/art packaging.
